Legendary Sunil Gavaskar does not agree with former opener Gautam Gambhir’s remarks about Dinesh Karthik’s place not being decided in the playing 11 for the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November this year. Ahead of the India vs South Africa 4th T20I, Gambhir said of Karthik, “If he is not in the playing XI, then there is no point in giving him a place in the team.”
Gavaskar completely disagrees with Gambhir and said that Karthik can be the player that Team India wants. The former India captain did not take Gambhir’s name, but he made the remarks on the former left-handed opener’s statement. He said in a post match show on Star News, “I know people are talking about how you can include him in the team when he is not playing. How can you tell he won’t be able to play? You select a player on the basis of form and not reputation and name.
Karthik played a brilliant innings of 55 runs in 27 balls in the fourth T20 match against South Africa in Rajkot and was adjudged the player of the match. The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman scored runs at a strike rate of over 200. During this he hit two sixes and nine fours. When Karthik came out to bat at number six, India were in a lot of trouble.
Captain Rishabh Pant was dismissed for 17 runs in 23 balls and the team could only manage 81 runs for 4 wickets in 12.5 overs. In the next 7 overs, the partnership between Karthik and Hardik Pandya (46 runs in 31 balls) helped India post 169 for 5 in 20 overs. Gavaskar said that one should not look at Karthik’s age but see that he is scoring crucial runs in tough conditions at an impressive strike rate.
Gavaskar further said, “Dinesh Karthik does not get much opportunities, batting at number 6 and 7. You can’t expect him to score 50 runs regularly. He can give you 40 runs in 20 balls and he is doing it consistently. This is the reason why he is a contender for a place in the World Cup squad.
Gavaskar also said, “Today he scored runs under pressure on Team India. He is looking forward to playing for India again. There is a 50-over World Cup next year and I think he would like to be available for that as well. No matter one’s age, the performance has to be seen.”